Blood diamonds and the meeting between Florence Nightingale and Aga Khan III

We begin with the trial of the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor. It was claimed that he traded in arms and ammunition in return for so-called blood diamonds. Our guest, gemmologist James Evans discusses the creation of synthetic diamonds. Next we head to Syria where a group of young men in the besieged town of Darayya came together to build a secret library during the civil war. Plus the start of the Second World War in the Pacific when Japanese troops landed in what was then northern Malaya. We hear about a meeting between two of the most prominent figures in history from around the turn of the last century. Florence Nightingale and the Aga Khan, Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah. Our sporting story takes us back to the summer of 1952 when the first Olympics of the Cold War era took place. Czechoslovakian army officer Emil Zatopek achieved a unique feat. And finally, the moment when Spain's fledgling democratic government appeared to be under threat. Contributors: Brenda Hollis - Chief prosecutor at the Charles Taylor trial. Malik Alrifaii - Volunteer who helped run the Syrian library. Dorothy Variyan -Lived under Japanese rule during the occupation of the Malay peninsula. Aga Khan III, Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah - BBC archive interview from 1950. Richard Asquith - Emil Zatopek's biographer. Joaquin Almunia - Former Vice President of the European Commission Presenter: Max Pearson (Photo: Charles Taylor (rear C) appears in court in 2006. Credit: Rob Keeris/Getty Images)

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Blood diamonds and the meeting between Florence Nightingale and Aga Khan III is an episode from The History Hour by BBC.

This episode is 59:57 long.

This episode was published on Feb 28, 2026.

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